I wish upon stars
by januarylightsphere
Summary: "Paint over my heart with your starlight." - Star Pair 100 themes
1. 1 to 4

**disclaimer: **If they were mine, we can agree that there would be so many AmeViet moments that it'd be pointless.

**notes: **I know I shouldn't have started another fanfic, since I already have a lot of drabble collection and chaptered stories to finish, but when I get my hand on the pen and paper, I just... argh! And I can't believe it's one of my FUTURE projects, which becomes current one in that short of time. I'm going to cry.

Please review to tell me what you think.

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><p><strong>1, introduction<strong>

America's heard about her even before meeting her, one of China's siblings, England says, and it's such a pity that France has had his hands on her first and that little boy from China, Hong Kong scowls and tells him to forget getting her unless he wants his ass to be kicked. America's heard about her from France, when the man complains how much she's hard to deal with and China sneers at him and mutters something about 'of course, she's my sister, what do you expect?'. China's sister, he knows, and he's already predicted that they have something similar, perhaps the same stubbornness, the same challenging status to the one who dares to invade them, the same pride even when they lose. England and France even call her 'China doll'. He's heard about her in Versailles, when Nguyen Ai Quoc sends the "Claims of Annamite People" and he thinks he sees light in China's eyes.

America's always wanted to meet her.

And she isn't like anything he's imagined.

At least he's right to think she looks a bit like China, with black hair tied in ponytail, golden brown eyes that hold wars and pain, the same dignity and pride when she stands facing other countries, who're more powerful and dangerous. He's heard something about 'please be gentle with the Japanese' and an uncomfortable feeling settles on in his chest as Russia nods and says 'of course, Lien' and glances at his direction. Her eyes follow Russia's, looking at them, at him, and there's something in her eyes – something like cold and distant – but it disappears so quickly that he almost thinks it must have been his imagination.

"Where's China?" She asks and there's disappointment in her voice that America clearly doesn't like.

"China?" Of course, Russia isn't happy with China's absence either, as he looks pointedly at the Chinese army. "I think he has to settle something in his country." She just nods, turning her eyes back to France and England in distaste, and finally, she's looking directedly at America. "Oh, you've already known France and England, right? But you must have heard of -"

"Nice to meet you!" There's no way he'll let Russia cut in his heroic introduction, "My name is America, but you can call me Alfred, I hope we'll get along. The hero will help you with all he can!" He realizes he's spoken a little too fast and hurriedly hides his awkwardness by laughing.

A feature-bright touch on his outstretched hand and it takes him few seconds to know she's shaking his hands.

"It's pleasure to meet you, I'm Vietnam."

It's a good enough start, he decides.

**2, Love**

For the first time in a very long time, Vietnam feels afraid. She can feel it, she knows this feeling, she knows this aching longing means. She's been feeling it for almost one thousand years as she lifts her gaze up to the north. She's been locking it at the bottom of her heart, and devotes the remaining of her heart to her citizen – she thinks she'll keep loving China forever without his knowing, but now she can sense it's stirring up. And she's scared. She knows what that feeling can do, it makes her blind and insane, and if there's something Vietnam doesn't allow to lose, it's her sanity. More importantly, she's supposed to hate him. America isn't someone you should love, he's just a kid with a bit of hero-complex, naïve and full of life and she's so envious of him. Envy doesn't turn into love… right?

(But every time when she feels like the South, she thinks of loving him and almost gives in to the command of her heart.

And every time there's a voice whispers in her mind, "Don't. Did you forget Mi Chau?"

"I won't be like her." She says, and hopes that her voice sounds strong.)

**3, Light**

She leans against the rock and bites her lips to prevent a scream as one of the bombs goes off again. Looking at her bleeding arms, she wonders idly what President Ho will say when he sees her. The vague thought of cleaning before going back appears in her head before the ground shakes again. She holds her head with her uninjured arms, trying to stand up. She needs to get out of her – fast, when she still feels like the North and not being overwhelmed by the South…

She's clearly underestimated the strength of her legs. The moment she's up, the same dizzy feeling attacks her head and she staggers on her feet. Vietnam closes her eyes, waiting for a terrible crash.

But it doesn't come.

Someone's holding her, she realizes, and when she opens her eyes, it almost makes her to shut them again because of the light. Golden light, like the sun itself - but the sky is grey due to smoke so when does that color come from? And she sees the blue. Sky blue. The answer is as clearly as crystal and Vietnam immediately jerks away. America doesn't look surprised at her reaction, as he lowers his hands and sighs:

"Please go, this place is dangerous." He says instead.

A moment of silence before she finally croaks out: "Th – Thank you."

And she walks as fast as her feet can allow because it's not time to feel like the South.

**4, Dark**

Vietnam doesn't like storm, she doesn't like the sound of thunder outside, which keeps her from sleeping. She thinks dryly about what Taiwan will say when she shows up at the family gathering tomorrow. She lies on her back, on top of her bed's covers. Of course it must be like this – she wants to sleep and the sky doesn't let her, she doesn't want to sleep and everything is so quiet for her liking. What has she done to defy the high power above? She sighs, strains her eyes in a fruitless battle against the solid wall of darkness. She can detect a few things – a chair, a wardrobe – but they're already on her memories – and a vase of roses in the window as the thunder flashes.

She remembers she has a guest.

She goes out of her room, is it a bit indecent to keep him up just because she can't sleep? But he says she can go to him whenever she wants, right? She doesn't know why she's acting like this, maybe PMS. He doesn't even bother to close the door – figure – and through the faint light, she can see a laptop balanced on his lap, America's sleeping, his head hanging at a very uncomfortable angle, and his chest rising steadily. He's going to break his neck at this rate. She sighs, the rain attacking the window and the shadows from various objects on the ground stretching, long and dark. She's going to have to clean it later.

The screen is lit up a pale blue, he falls asleep while playing game. With a sigh, Vietnam comes closer and place the laptop on the dead and snaps the lid shut. The room is covered in darkness again, and it's a relief somehow, because she clearly doesn't want anyone to know her next action. She grabs his head gently and places the pillow next to and slides it behind his back. His neck will be fine that way. And she leaves the room, without turning a light on.

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><p><strong>notes: <strong>Princess Mi Chau (媚珠) is the daughter of An Duong Vuong who got married to Trong Thuy (Zhong Shi), the son of Trieu Da.

The basic story of its is like Romeo and Juliet:

Trọng Thủy, the son of the Qin mandarin Triệu Đà, was sent as an emissary to the king of Vietnam (then known as Âu Lạc), and was given the hand in marriage of Mỵ Châu the only daughter of An Dương Vương.[1] But she betrayed her father to her husband's father, leading to the fall of Cổ Loa fortress to Triệu Đà. In legend An Dương Vương fled with his daughter, not knowing she was the traitor, but having ridden to a river a giant golden turtle, told him "The enemy is sitting right behind you!" - and he killed her. Prince Trọng Thủy arrives immediately afterward, and finding the body of his beloved wife and his father-in-law nowhere to be seen, drew his sword and killed himself, in order to be with his wife forever in eternity.

**note2: Please review to tell me what you think.**


	2. 5 to 8

**disclaimer: **i think you can discover what is mine by a little logic. Right? Right.

i have something to say about this chapter.

theme 5 is what I like. theme 6 is Vietnam-centric completely and why did I do this? them 7 is awkward. theme 8 is fluff - without war.

i'm sorry for the quality.

thanks for all review, fav+ and alert.

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><p><strong>5, Seeking solace<strong>

When night comes, he loves her fiercely, his love, his gestures guided by a desperation that burns like fire. It's like every part of him has some connections to fire slowly engulfing her. _I'm killing them, I'm killing them. _He's still young, he's seen and suffered wars, but still too young in comparison to her, and she, the older one, doesn't know what to say. It's war, and it's raining blood. Their moments together feel like borrowed time and space, a hopeless fight against the inevitable, a hopeless struggle against making the same mistakes. He loves like the bombs that are dropped down her land, there's a certain destruction, a terrifying threat beneath the tender caresses and kisses. It starts clumsy at first - if her face wasn't so tense, she would chuckle at his concentration – he awkwardly and hesitant and treats her like she's glass. But then the kisses get rougher, the gestures get bolder, his hands fly over her body and all she can feel is fire and fire, shot through her vein, make her unable to refuse the call. _I will keep my promise. I will protect your trust. _He always says that to her in the moonlight, as his fingers running through her black hair and limbs tangled together, while the war rages outside and the fate of her country hangs on balance. It's the only moment that she lets herself forget about being North or South. He's with her until the sunrise. _We're on the road to ruin_, she thinks, _and you're too young, America, too young compared to me. You shouldn't cling to someone like me. _She just doesn't have courage to let him go entirely.

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><p><strong>6, Break away<strong>

There are times that she doesn't feel like Vietnam, Lien wants to break away from everything. Too much pressure is put on her shoulder, what's with the war between two world powers, keeping herself from going insane, keeping herself from following Korea's step. She's tired of being a proxy war in the cold war, of being torn between two nations who wants power. She curses them when she feels like human, cutting her hands until they bleed and China has to stop her from torturing herself. She's breaking – do they not see it? Both Russia and America are blind by power, China will say if she asks, but they're not her most dangerous enemies. Her brother will look pointedly at her and says: "Little sister, your strongest opponent is yourself." And Lien watches her wounds heal, hearing the voices of her citizens, they're calling to her, they want to protect her. They're her blood and flesh, her children.

"You're protecting whom you care about." Lien hears Vietnam whisper in her ears.

"I don't care anymore." She says, clenching her hands and feels the warm liquid beneath her skin escaping. "I don't want it. I just want to go away."

And she picks up her guns and goes outside.

_Keep counting the day until this war is over. Don't you dare forget what you've done. _

(- except that she's Vietnam before she's Lien, so breaking away is out of question.)

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><p><strong>7, Heaven.<strong>

"Hey, Alfred."

America lifts his eyes from the laptop screen to look at Vietnam, who is sitting near the window, playing with the rose petals. Throughout the year, America has learnt to use her tone of voice as an indicator of expression, since her facial expression hardly changes at all. Whenever she calls his human name, it means she is in relatively good mood, her tone will be a bit pleasant, sentimental and thoughtful.

Like now.

"What's up?" And America will not be himself if he doesn't make use of the opportunity.

"Where do you think we'll go after we die?"

Of all things she can ask, it is the least he's expected. This question is a bit far away, isn't it? Because they're cursed with immortality.

(the first rule of immortality is dying, and they've already done that but America has no idea if that black and white place is the one she's looking for.)

"Why do you ask that?"

"I don't know." She shrugs. "Perhaps I've lived too long and wanted to know if there is something nice after I rest." The way she takes death is so lightly. He can't really have any saying in that, because it's what they all prepare for. Nations can't die, but it doesn't mean they will not disappear. They may be replaced in the future.

But -

She hasn't lived a enough peaceful life.

"I'll think heaven." He replies, cautiously. "At least, this is the nice place for people. But do you think you'll be comfortable?"

A pregnant pause and her voice is so soft that he almost misses it:

"No."

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><p><strong>8, Innocence<strong>

(gakuen au)

"You work too much." Alfred tells her, voice so serious that Lien almost smiles. "Aren't those assignments frustrating?"

"Only to you. You don't like doing it."

"No one does." She raises an eyebrow at this, and he places his hamburger down. "Lien, you should ease up a bit. It'd be nice to take a break, we can go somewhere simple and… innocent." She wonders what's with the pause.

"What do you suggest?"

"You know, talking about childhood memories, seeking for the innocence you once held."

"It's surprisingly deep of you."

"Hey!"

"It's good, actually, I can use that for my English assignment."

"What? How does it come back to study again?"

"Alfred." At least he's succeeded, she's in good mood. "If you want to take a break, wait until weekend. We can catch the bus and goes to a farm far from the city. It will certainly recovering my memories, as you put it."

"Eh? That means we're coming to your house?" He isn't nervous, he's just excited, and it's not because she decides to take a break, it's because he wants to see where she grows up. "Of course I'll go!"

"Great." She says, and stands up. "Then I'll ask Arthur and Feliciano too. We may see if my siblings will visit."

He's forgotten that she has a big family.

And she's gone, too search for the ones she's mentioned. Alfred chews his hamburger sullenly. The more the merrier? He's very disappointed when she said she'd ask them.

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><p><strong>notes: <strong>please don't favorite without review.


	3. 9 to 12

**disclaimer: **the last time I checked, I still didn't how to draw. Do you still think they're mine? Don't think so.

number 9 and number 12 is fluff, because I just to improve the skills to write fluff.

number 10 is... well... I don't know.

number 11 is, personally, my least favorite. I think I struggle with it for some reasons.

in general, this chapter consists of the most difficult challenges.

and i still have to work on my grammar.

why do I have the feeling that those chapters are getting shorter and shorter?

**thanks for all reviews, fav+ and alert.**

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><p><strong>9, Drive<strong>

Vietnam swats another wandering hand from reaching for the tangyuan.

"America, you aren't to touch it. This is Thailand's."

What she gets in response is a groan.

"But Lien, they smell so good." And it's her cooking, damn it, why the hell does she do it for Thailand?

"I'll make you your own later, just leave those alone."

"If you're going to make me some, it won't matter if I take some. Besides, it's getting cool."

"Of course it does. They're for Thailand."

"I bet you won't stop China."

"China has nothing to do with it. And he can make better ones than me. Way better."

"But you're going to make some more -"

"For you, yes."

"Then I surely can take -"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because those are ready and specifically made." Clearly, it's her way of saying 'Because I said so.'

"So you're saying that I'm not as important?"

"I'm saying those are not yours. And –" She frowns, choosing her words. "A hero doesn't take what isn't his."

America begs to differ.

"But you made them, right? That means they can be mine, and they can be replaced."

"Alfred," She warns. "If you keep driving me up the wall –"

"Nah." He puts some of them in his mouth before running for his dear life.

*tangyuan: Boiled Glutinous rice balls – also called bánh chay; literally "floating cake") – served together with bánh chay. Originally from China.

**10, Breathe Again.**

He can't breathe. The cries, the bombs, the poison are choking him, constricting his lung and pressing down on his chest. He's choking, gasping for breath until it hurts, it damn hurts – someone, anyone, just takes him away.

And it's not even his land. This place is so far way to the East, where his connection to the land is blurry and weak and he can't even feel the pain anymore –

This land is being destroyed.

He's the hero, he can't them continue and he's reaching out, to the mistress of this land.

A girl in green, where is she? Where is Vi-?

Vi-

Vie-

Viet-

Vietna-

He can't feel anything. The agent orange is overwhelming in his mind.

He can't feel pain.

Who is…

He can't breathe.

Who is Vietnam?

Not the landmass, the girl, who is she?

He fights, he wants to breathe again.

"America, wake up."

He can't feel pain. He can't breathe. He can't die.

The girl turns her head to him, golden brown eyes strangely bright in this mixture of smoke and bomb and dust, and he gazes up at her –

_Who are you?_

Her voice is chillingly cold.

"You can't die. It's impossible."

He reaches out his hand –

Breathe.

Breathe.

- you will come back to life eventually, but it doesn't mean you don't stop just have to wait.

- in numbness, in emptiness.

**11, Memory**

She looks at the stone tablet and feels the sunlight on her body and the white clouds leisurely moving above her head (luckily it isn't rain, she thinks, she's developed a certain disliking for the rain.) as the speeches are made. They praise the dead, and she can't help but think they can't hear it anymore. She stares at the name carves into the memorial and realizes every single one. It doesn't hurt less to think of them as heroes, died for their country in a proud glory –

They will be forgotten someday. The war will be forgotten someday.

(but they make sure she's remembered.)

America comes shortly afterwards, but doesn't come nearer than five meters. Looking at her like this is like seeing her suffer a punishment, like watching her try to hold on the last rope leading to life but unable to do anything.

_They are memories. _He wants to say. _Please don't be so sad because of them. I'm sure they want you to make something you can hold in fond remembrance -_

He can't.

(a tiny fragment in his mind whispers: "Would she hold onto his memory if I disappeared along the way.")

He's just glad that she's here to stay.

**12, Insanity**

(gakuen au)

"This… This thing is driving me insane!" Alfred is very close to banging his head against the wall to end this endless misery. Dear Math, why don't you solve your own problem instead of forcing me to face your for hours. God, numbers are everywhere. At this rate, he might dream of hamburger with numbers!

Avoiding being stuck with Arthur isn't worth it.

Lien looks at the result of 55% on his latest test before commenting:

"Well, it isn't so bad. Just continue and you'll finish them."

"I don't wanna…" He groans, drops his head on the desk and closes his eyes. He needs to sleep. Sleeping makes everything better.

"Alfred." She says and he can hear the frown in her voice. "You have to do this. You asked me to help you so that you could have a break next weekend, remember?"

"I know you're good at this. So let me lone in my suffering."

"Alfred."

"Lien, please."

"No."

"Please, please, pretty please?"

"Alfred."

"zzz…zzz"

Lien stares at him, that fast?

Then again, why is she so surprised?

She looks around, they are alone in the library, and they can't make any more noise because the librarian has been giving them weird looks because of Alfred's groaning too much about the questions. She sighs, it's 8 in the morning. Maybe she's forced him too much. She takes out her books starts reading, but not before taking a look at his peaceful face. Her hand reaches out to brush hair off his forehead.

Alright, she'll wake him up later.

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><p><strong>author note:<strong> please drop a review and tell me what you think, it'll make my day.


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